Fireflies
by Pesky-Dust
Summary: Sequel to "The Great Outdoors." Not even the guy who saved the whole universe might be able to stay completely sane when camping with a bored Osmosian and a kid who is a walking fire hazard. "I hate you both so much." "We love you, too."
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10. I only own my OC.**

**Author's Note: This was a requet by **me**. ...Not as **_**myself**_**, me, the anonymous reviewer, me, who reviewed The Great Outdoors. I wouldn't review my own story... Although I do talk to myself, sometimes, and my parents are starting to think there's something wrong with... Okay, to the anonymous reviewer: At first, when I thought about a Part 2, I just thought, "What would I write about? What could I possibly do to torture them some more?" But, I do like a challenge... *evil laugh***

Today was supposed to be any ordinary day in the lives of half-alien/half-human hybrids. Alright, so the lives of alien/human hybrids wasn't exactly anyone's idea of normal, but let's get on with the story, shall we?

Of course, Ben, Kevin, and Alan were just hanging around the Rust Bucket III. But, once again, Helen and Julie had to tease them once more about their camping experiences.

"Yeesh, you guys," Julie said, "You couldn't even make a fire?"

Alan blushed, as the girls all laughed. They loved teasing them.

"Did you _have_ to tell them about that?" Kevin asked Ben, jabbing him in the ribs with his elbow.

"Maybe," Ben responded with. He smirked.

"What was so bad about camping, anyway?" Julie asked.

The three "men" glanced at eachother before simultaneously answering: "Everything."

"Aw," Helen said, "Why don't you guys go camping aga-"

Before she could even finish her sentence, all three boys said, louder, "_NO._"

"What?" Gwen said, entering the Rust Bucket, "Aren't you man enough to handle it?"

"NO." Was that the only thing they could respond with?

The girls laughed. Helen smiled at them. "There must've been _something_ good that came out of camping."

They stared at Helen for a while, then the boys all burst out laughing, as if it were the most ridiculous thing they've ever heard. It probably was.

"What?" Gwen said, "You guys don't think you're man enough to go again for a week?"

Ben and Kevin glanced at eachother, smirking.

"Of course we are!" Kevin said.

Alan hid his face into his hands. Why did they have to bring that up again?

"But, wait," Alan said, ad-libbing, "It won't be as fun without Manny and Cooper." Manny was at the Plumber's Academy, and Cooper was much busier now that he became a Plumber.

"We can go without them," Ben said. "Besides, it's not like they'd want to go."

Alan stared at the green-eyed teenager before he turned to the only reasonable person he could think of: Gwen. "Please don't make me go!"

The Anodyte girl giggled. "What? You don't think you're man enough to face Ben and Kevin alone?"

Alan grinned. He realized that Gwen was trying to get him to go camping again, even though she thought that she'd have to argue to no end with him, but he also realized that there would be no way to get out of it if he had to argue with her, of all people. "Fine, I'll go. But if I die, you're not coming to my funeral."

~Lalala~

"Ah," Alan said, frowning as they made it to the same place they went camping last summer, "Plenty of warm memories." Ben took it as a compliment instead of a sarcastic comment.

"I'm setting up the tents," Ben said, already taking out the tents. Because they had gotten there so late, they decided to just set up the tents, gather firewood, and sleep on their first day, then make the fire and get food the next.

Ben had set up the tents, Kevin had to help him (which was harder than both of them had anticipated, since both of them were arguing about what goes where), and Alan was supposed to gather firewood.

Ben and Kevin were now sleeping in their own tents, now that Ben had brought three for each of them, too tired to try and wait for Alan to come back with the firewood.

Kevin heard a noise, like a sort of growling that sounded a bit like purring, too. He rubbed his eyes, a bit swollen from sleeping, and he poked his head out of his tent. It appeared that Alan was inside of his tent. He was making a lot of noise, for some reason. Ben, being the heavy sleeper he was, was still sleeping.

Curious, Kevin walked up to Alan's red tent. He opened the flap, and what he saw inside of the tent nearly made him wet himself.

He quietly walked into Ben's tent and shook him until he woke up.

"What is it?" Ben mumbled, "Whaddya want?"

"Well," Kevin said, "You should see this." Both of them got out of the bright green tent and glanced into Alan's tent.

Ben almost screamed. "Alan's gonna kill us if he sees this!"

"If I see what?"

Ben and Kevin yelped, turning around. They saw Alan, his eyes showing that he was very sleepy, and firewood in his hands.

"N-Nothing!" Ben stuttered. "It's just that we need you to... Uh..."

"Gather some fireflies in a jar!" Kevin finished. Ben gave him a mean look.

"Why?"Alan said, yawning. He was tired, and that crappily-made tent looked like heaven to him right now.

"Because Ben's scared of the dark and he can't sleep until he gets a nightlight!" Kevin pulled out of his ass.

Alan, deciding he was going to be pulled into this anyway, just said, "Okay." He grabbed a jar from Ben's car and looked around for any fireflies farther away from his two moronic friends.

After seeing that Alan was heading closer to the lake, Ben and Kevin continued to panic.

"How are we gonna get _a bear_ out of Alan's tent?" Ben whispered-screamed.

"Just grab it and pull it out!" Kevin said. "Worked for me back in the Null Void."

And they tried just that. Ben carefully tried to grab the bear, grabbing its furry foot. Kevin grabbed its other leg. Before they could even try, the bear looked behind her and growled threateningly. That was enough for Ben and Kevin to let go and run away.

As they panted, Ben looked up. "You are such a wimp, Mister I-Survived-Being-In-The-Null-Void!"

"You're one to talk, Miss I-Saved-The-Whole-Entire-Universe!"

Before Ben could question him about the "miss" part, he heard a familiar voice say, "Alright, I got your nightlight, Mister I'm-Scared-Of-The-Dark."

Ben and Kevin looked at him. A few glowing bugs floated around the jar, making it glow. Alan yawned. Would he ever get to sleep with these two morons around?

"That's not enough!" Kevin said quickly. "Ben's a gigantic wuss! He's gonna need a _lot_ more fireflies than that!"

Ben felt like slapping him, but he said nothing, since he couldn't have thought of a better excuse.

"Alright, what's going on?" Alan asked. He handed the jar to Kevin.

Ben thought about lying, but Alan was too smart for that. "A bear got into your tent."

"What?" Alan yelled. "You made me run around catching these stupid fireflies, just so you could get a bear out of my tent?"

Ben and Kevin just stared at him with sleepy eyes. They didn't really know what to say.

Alan sighed, then walked over to a bush with little blurberries on it. He picked a handful of them out, and made a trail from his tent to the lake.

Much to Ben and Kevin's surprise, the bear poked her head out of the tent. She sniffed, then saw the blueberry on the grass. She ate it, then found a few more that lead to the lake. After eating all of the berries, she drank a bit from the lake, and left, not even looking back.

Ben and Kevin stared wide-eyed at the lake. Why hadn't they thought of that?

Handing the jar of fireflies to Kevin, Alan mumbled, "I'm going to bed." And with that, he slept peacefully inside of the crappy tent.

Kevin almost released the fireflies in the jar, but Ben stole the jar from him and slept in the tent with them.

**Author's Note: No better way to start this than by making Ben and Kevin look like noobs, right? Well, I'm sleepy. Good night, leave a review, and eat breakfast, 'cuz you need your proteins. Mmm... Pancakes...**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10. But I do own a composition notebook that has Beemo on one side, and Finn on the other. I made it myself. :D And another where I drew Fionna and Cake! AND PIKACHU!**

**Author's Note: Hello, people from the internet and beyond! Who missed me? ...Alright, don't answer that. Now, for the second of the puny five chapters I shall write! By the way... ETNRL4L? I think you'll get a great kick out of THIS chapter! Because I know you love pancakes. ;P**

Ben woke up that morning with everything blurry. He rubbed his half-closed eyes and looked around. He expected a room that looked like a tornado went through it, with random clothes scattered on the floor, empty smoothie cups with large smiley faces on top of the desk, and a TV that was either showing the news or some Sumo Slammers movie. Instead, he saw a tent that looked like Kevin had put it up. Then he realized that Kevin really _did_ put the tent up, and he was in a place that was supposedly the great outdoors, but he didn't know what was so great about it.

He put some clothes on and went outside, letting go the fireflies that he kept in the jar from last night.

~Lalalala~

"You forgot the fishing pole?"

Alan barely woke up, and the day was already a disaster. He was expecting Kevin to forget something back at home, of course. He _expected_ Kevin to forget something like his sleeping bag. Or an extra pair of pants. Or his brain. But, no. He chose to forget what was probably the most important thing they required.

"Come on, what do we need a fishing pole for?"

"To eat."

"I know how to get fish."

Alan raised an eyebrow. Since they had no way to get fish, he could at least listen to what Kevin had in mind. "How?"

"Well, I saw this thing in a movie, where-"

"NO." Alan knew that all the stuff that was in movies was pure Hollywood crap. He already knew that it wasn't going to work, whatever "it" was.

"I read a book once where this guy made a bow and arrow with some wood and his shoelace and killed fish and birds with that." Alan had to remind himself to never let Ben read _Hatchet_ again.

He turned to the green-eyed teenager. "Can't you just turn into Big Chill or whatever and sneak up on fish and stuff?"

"I guess," Ben said. "Did Kevin forget the fishing pole?"

"Duh."

"I'm right here," Kevin said. "Come on, let's go catch something so we can eat it already."

~Lalalala~

"So how exactly did you think that you could actually make a bow and arrow with wood and a shoelace?"

"Shut up and let me concentrate." Big Chill's ghostly voice sent a few shivers down Alan's spine. But he wasn't entirely sure if it was from his voice or from the cold air he created from his breath.

Alan and Kevin just sat by the lake. They watched as Big Chill turned invisible, then quickly dipped his hand and pulled something out... Except it wasn't really a fish.

"Oh, God!" Big Chill said, dropping the old, smelly sock. "I think that was yours, Kev."

Kevin laughed. "Dude, did you really think you could catch a fish like _that_?"

"It works in the movies," Big Chill mumbled. He looked around. Wasn't there anything else to eat around here other than fish and berries?

If he looked closely enough, Big Chill could make out a few fat, light brown birds sitting around, their feathers puffed out, making them look even fatter than they should.

"Don't tell me you're gonna try to get one of those birds," Kevin said. "You can't even catch a fish!"

Big Chill flew down to the ground and slapped dow on the Ultimatrix symbol, turning into one of his old favorites.

"XLR8!" Ben yelled out.

Kevin looked down at the younger half-alien. "When he said that, did he strike fear into you?"

As quickly as possible, XLR8 ran over to the mourning doves and grabbed one in his claws. All of the others flew away, not wanting to get caught like the poor sucker that was now in Ben's grip.

As the tiny bird tried to unsuccessfully wriggle out of Ben's grip, he sped over to Alan and Kevin. "I caught a bird!"

Alan stared at the fat bird. "There is no way I am going to kill that thing."

"Why not?" Kevin asked. He knew for a fact that Alan wasn't a vegan. He ate fish last time. What was so bad about eating a dove?

"Because it's mean!" Alan said. Alright, he could handle eating a fish that he caught himself, but killing a cute little bird and eating it? That was wrong!

"You've caught fish before!" Ben objected, still holding the bird. "How is this different?"

"It's staring at me!" Alan said. How could he kill the poor little thing with it just staring at him with big, sad eyes?

Ben covered its eyes. "Now it's not." The bird pecked at Ben's fingers cutely.

"You know what?" Alan said. "_You_ kill it."

Turning back to his regular human self, Ben said, "Fine, I will!" But, looking at the bird, he couldn't bring himself to do it. It was easier with fish. A couple of seconds after being out of the water, they'd die by themselves. Ben has never killed anything, except maybe flies. But this was different. This was a _bird_. Was this even legal?

How would he even kill it without scarring Alan for life? Step on it? Drown it? Poison it? With what?

"Well, Mr. Tough Guy?" Alan said, smirking. "We're waiting."

Ben handed the bird to the Osmosian. "Kevin would _love_ to kill this bird for me!"

Kevin glared at Ben, then at the bird. It was pecking at his fingers. He stared at the bird for a while, but looked back up at the two morons standing in front of him. "Do I _really_ have to?"

"Not unless you want to eat fish," Ben said.

Kevin looked at the mourning dove, then at the lake. He handed the bird to Alan and easily caught a fish with his bare hands.

Ben stared at amazement at the wriggling cod in Kevin's grasp. Alan just laughed, holding the bird in his hands. It almost looked like it was laughing with him.

~Lalalala~

Alan grumbled, "Can't you guys just make a fire instead of using me?" Seriously! Did any other Pyronite on Earth have to suffer through this abuse?

"This is more fun," Ben said, swallowing a mouthful of fish. "Besides, you should be honored. Not a lot of people say they get to be a campfire and lived through it."

"I hate you both so much."

"We love you, too."

Alan looked at the small bird sitting dangerously close to him. Ever since Alan found out about his powers, he became claustrophobic, but not for the reasons you might think. He used to think that he could accidentally turn into his alien form by accident, and he could burn someone. That was why he always stays at least a foot away from trees. Alan sighed, then gave the remains of his fish to the tiny bird, who pecked at it happily.

"You know those kinds of birds don't eat fish, right?"

"I don't think it cares."

**Author's Note: For the record, the bird's name... is... PANCAKE. Haha, just like my widdle Pancake! *to my bird* Who's a cutie? Who's a cutie? Who's a widdle cutie? Yes, you are, you widdle... *turns to gibberish* Review, pwease! Do it for the mourning birds both named Pancake!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10 in any way, shape, or form. But... *squees* Do you know how awesome that'd be?!**

**Author's Note: I'M DONE WITH MY AP EURO HOMEWORK! ...At least, until we get the next "Interacting with the Text" thing in a couple of days... ANYWHO, please enjoy this chapter!**

It was barely the butt-crack of dawn before Kevin smelled something all too familiar. Smoke. And he has definitely made enough fires in his life to know what smoke smelled like.

Kevin rushed out of his tent and looked out at Alan's. Amazingly, it wasn't the source of the smell of smoke. Neither was Ben's. Turning around, he saw a familiar face. He relaxed, but he frowned. "What are _you_ doing here?"

Rook looked up from the small fire he made, where he was roasting a marshmallow over. "Oh, the girls told me that you three were here, and that I should join you."

Alan got out of his tent, still in pajamas. "I swear, I didn't make the-" He looked at Rook. "Who's he?"

"Ben's new 'partner', Rook," Kevin explained. "Since Max thought Ben was lonely, he sent Rook to help Ben with alien stuff. I bet you that Gwen sent him here."

"Yes," Rook said, taking a bite out of the s'more. Ben taught him how to make one. "Ben hasn't mentioned me? He calls me a 'donut-hole.'"

Kevin and Alan just stared at him, not really knowing what to say.

Ben came out, yawning. "Guys, would you shut up and let me-" He saw Rook sitting in the campfire. "I'm not trying to say this in a mean way, but... What are you doing here?"

"I decided to come with you," Rook answered, standing up. "Gwen thinks that you three might accidentally kill yourselves out here, and I'm here to prevent that from happening!"

"She didn't mean that literally, you know," Ben pointed out. Sometimes, he wished that Rook wasn't deaf to sarcasm. But, at least he could call him a donut-hole and get away with it.

"But she told me to come anyway," Rook said. "But I think I forgot to bring a tent for myself. Maybe I could share a tent with one of you three?"

Right off the bat, both Ben and Kevin blurted out the same thing: "The red one."

Rook smiled then went into the bright red tent to put his sleeping bag in there.

Alan glared at the older two half-aliens. "I hate you."

~Lalalala~

"Um, sir?" Rook asked Ben, after he put out his fire.

"Yeah?" Ben responded, highly appreciating the brand new fishing pole that Rook brought with him.

"Gwen told me that, last time, you three didn't have very good experiences," Rook explained, "So I brought a list of things we could do together to make it fun." He held up an article he printed out from the internet.

"Where did you get that?" Ben asked. He swore, if it was one of those websites that was for overprotective parents...

"It says here that the website is called "Ya-hooo," Rook answered. He squinted at the letters. He mumbled to himself, "Humans think up of the strangest names..."

Ben, Kevin, and Alan stared at him blankly. Kevin nudged Alan to say something. He was most likely the wisest out of all of them, except maybe Rook. "What does it say?"

"It says here we should drink something called vodka," Rook said, "But it says here that we shouldn't drink it if we're under twenty-one, so I crossed that one out." He didn't noticed Kevin's slightly disappointed look.

"Then, a scavenger hunt-" _Groan._ "- and a game of hide-and-seek" _Grrooooaaannn._ "-and telling ghost stories." _GROOOOAAAANNNN._

"Rook, how old do you think we are?" Kevin asked. "Ten?"

Rook looked up at the sky. They had been fishing for most of the day, and Kevin was the one preparing things, but he slightly doubted that Kevin washed his hands.

"Well," Rook said, after finishing off his fish, "I think I'm going to bed." He crawled into the tiny tent, the rest of the "men" following him.

Kevin smiled. Maybe it was time to try out his new zip tie. What better way to introduce himself to their new happy camper?

~Lalalala~

After having almost no sleep with the tall alien sleeping right next to him, Alan just decided to get up and get today over with.

Except he couldn't open the tent. No matter how hard he pulled on the zipper, it wouldn't budge.

Rook opened his eyes. "Alan, what's wrong?"

Alan groaned, finally putting the pieces together. "I think Ben put a zip tie on our zipper."

"Huh?" Rook said, not fully awake yet. "And tied it to what?"

They could hear Ben's muffled voice through their tent. "What the-?!"

"Ben's tent," Alan decided. Then, all of them, even Rook, immediately knew what sadistic Osmosian did this to their tents:

"KEVIN!"

Alan looked at his sleeping bag. "Do you have a knife or something?"

"Inside of a tent?" Rook replied with. "You could cut yourself while you're sleeping!"

Alan sighed. "Ben! Just turn into something and get us out of here!"

Rook started growing worried, because of how horribly inaccurate the Omnitrix could be...

After seeing a bright green flash of light, their tent seemed to flip over upside-down, and Alan ended up nearly crushing Rook, along with their now completely messed-up tent.

Kevin watched safely from up a tree, nearly laughing off of the tree. Seeing the three morons struggling to open their tent would've been funny enough. But seeing Ben turn into Big Chill and accidentally destroying his tent while flipping over Rook and Alan's tent? Freaking _hilarious_. Especially with Rook's surprisingly girlish scream.

All three of them (with Ben now human again) glared at the dark-haired teenager laughing at them, somehow still sitting on the tree.

"Have I ever mentioned that I hate you?" Alan said.

"It's come up a few times, yes," Kevin somehow managed to say.

~Lalalala~

"Mr. Albright?" Rook asked.

"You can call me Alan," he said, as he doodled in his sketchbook.

"Well, I've thought on getting revenge on Kevin after the tent accident." Alan looked up at Rook with gratitude and shock. He smiled.

"Wow, Rook, I didn't know you had it in you." He continued to sketch, as his newly obtained pet bird, Pancake, pecked at his fingers playfully.

"What do you have in mind?" Ben asked. He knew that Kevin wouldn't be listening, because he was fishing from a safe, out-of-ear shot distance.

Rook smiled mischievously. "Well..."

~Lalalala~

Kevin slept in his tent. Because of his earlier prank, Ben, Rook, and Alan were now sleeping under the stars. It wasn't that bad. Of course, if it was raining, they'd all have to squeeze into Kevin's tent, which none of them felt like doing. So Ben prayed that there wouldn't be any rain.

Alan stiffed a laugh as he, Ben, and Rook carried Kevin's sleeping bag out of the tent. It would've been too much work, but Ben's new Omnitrix finally let him turn into Fourarms.

Rook pulled the inflatable mattress over, and Alan helped Ben lift Kevin gently on it. He was still asleep, snoring, and in his sleeping bag.

Ben, Alan, and Rook tried their best not to laugh as they pushed Kevin into the water. Amazingly, he floated, and he drifted off into the middle of the lake. The three aliens had to run off deep into the woods to laugh their asses off.

~Lalalala~

Kevin felt something pecking at his face. He tried to wave it off, but it continued to peck at his nose. He opened one eye, and noticed Pancake was resting on his chin, acting adorably innocent.

"Get off!" Kevin groaned, as the bird flew away. Kevin thought that he felt like he was moving...

He looked around. He was suddenly surrounded by water. He saw that he was right in the middle of the lake, and he saw Rook, Alan, and Ben laughing.

Kevin felt his face go red with anger. He saw a large stick drifting by, and he decided to use it to paddle his way over. Then he'd use it to beat Rook over the head.

He reached over to it, but he couldn't even brush his fingertips at it. Then, to add insult to injury, he fell right off of the mattress and fell into the lake, sleeping bag and all. He poked his head out of the water, but the mattress flipped over and hit the top of his head, forcing him back under the water.

As he popped back up _again_ when he saw that Ben, Rook, and Alan were laughing even harder than before, gasping for air and even falling to the ground in pain.

**Author's Note: Yeah, yeah, I know that Rook was OOC... But I don't care. ;P Reviews are awesomesause and make me happy!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I HATE EVERYTHING.**

**Author's Note: Ah, there's nothing like losing your flash drive, so now you have to rewrite the latest chapters of your two fics while writing forty-eight paragraphs, one hundred and fifty high-leveled questions, and twenty vocabulary words for AP Euro, right? ...Well, it wasn't that bad. At least I finally got Pokémon Black2 Version, right? *cough* I'm obsessed with PokeStar Studios... *cough***

**...Oh, yeah... Enjoy!**

Ben was definitely _not_ a morning person. So when Rook accidentally stepped on him this morning, he was _not_ pleased. It was barely the butt-crack of dawn, and Rook was already driving him insane.

Ben looked up at Rook, not realizing that Pancake was still sleeping on his fluffy hair, which Pancake rearranged to make it look like a nest.

Rook was shaking his sleeping bag furiously, probably looking for something he might have lost. Ben rubbed his eyes furiously so that he could see him clearly. Alan was still sleeping, and Kevin was still inside of his tent, snoring loudly.

"Rook, what are you doing?" Ben asked, as Pancake gently hopped out of his hair and landed on Alan's arm. She puffed out her feathers to make herself warm.

"My Proto-Tool," Rook said, looking panicked and tired at the same time. "I can't find it anywhere!" He yawned.

"Maybe it's in your car," Ben suggested.

"I checked," Rook said, shaking Alan awake. Pancake flew to her owner. "It's not there!"

"What?" Alan said, still half-asleep. "What blew up this time?"

"Get out of your sleeping bag," Rook said, "I can't find my Proto-Tool!"

Alan got out of the sleeping bag, Pancake flying on to Alan's head instead of is shoulder. Rook shook the sleeping bag, holding it upside-down, but only a feather and a pillow came out.

Rook walked up to Kevin's tent, as Ben, Alan, and Pancake, still tired, simply watched after him.

Kevin crawled out of the tent only seconds later, looking very tired and annoyed, as Rook was looking inside, searching for his precious Proto-Tool.

"What's so important about that Proto-Tool, anyway?" Kevin asked, as he saw that Rook had tossed his pillow out of the tent, and it landed dangerously close to the lake.

"IT JUST IS." Rook tossed out the sleeping bag, which, thankfully, didn't get too far.

"Alright, where did you last leave it?" Ben asked.

"In my sleeping bag!" Rook answered, tossing out more items. "But it's not there! I've checked!"

Ben looked at the large, light blue sleeping bag. Around it were little paw prints that obviously did not belong to him, Kevin, Alan, Rook, or Pancake.

Kevin looked at the itty-bitty paw prints. "Beavers."

Everyone stared at him. "How do you even know that?"

Kevin glared at Ben. "Just because I don't like camping doesn't mean I don't know about nature and stuff."

"_And stuff_?" Alan mocked, smirking.

"Shut up."

~Lalalala~

"_Damn_," Ben said, seeing the large dam built on the river.

"Yes," Rook said, "Beavers are known for building large dams."

Alan and Kevin just stared at him. He was getting weirder and weirder every day. Or maybe they were just noticing it a bit more as they were camping?

"Alright-y then, where's Rook's Proto-Tool?" Kevin said.

"I dunno," Ben said, looking around. "Alright, Crocodile Hunter, now what?"

Kevin glared at Ben. He didn't know whether he was making fun of his fear of alligators and crocodiles, or Ben was just being a gigantic donut hole again.

"I think I see it!" Alan said, startling Pancake. She flew to Rook's shoulder and made herself comfortable there. He pointed at a large, fluffy-looking beaver that had something very familiar-looking in its mouth...

"My Proto-Tool!" Rook said, looking very relieved, almost looking like he was going to hug Alan.

"Alright," Ben said, "Now what?"

"One of you will have to help me get the Proto-Tool out of the beaver's mouth," Rook said, seeing the fat mammal chewing enthusiastically on its new-found toy.

Kevin and Alan stepped back about a foot when Rook wasn't looking, making it look as though Ben had stepped up.

When Rook turned around, he smiled to see that Ben was generous enough to step up to help him. "Alright, Ben. Getting my Proto-Tool back should not be too hard. I've handled larger rodents back home."

As Rook walked into the water to get to the beaver, Ben looked at his two friends, then said, "I hate you."

"We love you, too, Benji," Kevin mocked.

Ben sighed as Pancake flew on his shoulder while he followed Rook. He saw that Rook was sneaking up behind the tiny rodent. He almost laughed.

"Dude," Ben said, making Rook jump, "It's just a beaver. The worst thing it could do is bite you... Or crap on you."

Rook ignored him, and carefully grabbed the beaver by the stomach. It continued to gnaw on Rook's only tool. Pancake got on Rook's shoulder to get closer to the beaver, then puffed out her feathers, trying to look intimidating, but it just made her look fluffier and much more adorable.

Rook turned to Ben, the beaver still chewing contently on the Proto-Tool. "Alright, just pull the Proto-Tool out of its mouth."

Ben, deciding that this would be pretty easy, reached his hand out at the Proto-Tool...

"OUCH!"

But it slapped Ben with its tail, which actually hurt a lot.

"IT HIT ME!" Ben whined, holding his hand in pain. He heard Alan and Kevin laughing in the distance, and yelled, "SHUT UP!"

"Ben, I do not think it should be that difficult to pull the Proto-Tool out of a beaver's mouth. I thought you told me Pancake likes to grab your socks and leave it in trees."

"Yeah," Ben said, massaging his hand, which was now red. "But when I try to grab my socks from a tree, the tree doesn't HIT ME WITH ITS TAIL."

"Trees do not have tails," Rook pointed out.

"Exactly," Ben said, "So maybe _I_ should just hold the beaver, and you get your Proto-Tool."

As the beaver was passed to Ben, the female beaver nibbled on her new toy. Why were these two weirdos trying to take away her new toy? If they tried to take away her new toy one more time...

Ben grabbed on the beaver's belly, and Rook tried to pry the dangerous weapon out of the innocent creature's mouth.

And then, it peed on Ben. At first, Ben didn't really know what was happening, until he actually realized why his jacket got wet and warm.

Ben accidentally dropped it, and the beaver, completely unharmed, dropped the Proto-Tool. Rook picked up the slightly chewed-up weapon, completely ignoring Ben's spazzing.

"HOLY CRAP! DUDE, IT PEED ON MY NEW JACKET!"

But Rook only smiled, and said, "We got my Proto-Tool back!"

"Yeah, that's great," Ben said half-heartedly, "BUT THAT STUPID BEAVER PEED ON ME!"

Kevin and Alan's laughter was drowned out by Ben's yelling and Pancake's screeching.

_**DID YOU KNOW THAT...**_

**...Munchlax has the highest base stat out of all Baby Pokémon...**

**...Lickitung originally were not able to learn Lick...**

**...Burgh's design was based on what women working with Ken Sugimori said were great qualities in a man...**

**Author's Note: Yeah, I know, this is short, but *puts on sunglasses* DEAL WITH IT. By the way, should I make this five chapters, or should there be more chapters? I can't decide. Reviews make me and Pancake happy~**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10. Please don't sue! I'm to pretty to get sued!**

**Author's Note: Oh my God... Guys... IT'S CONFIRMED THAT ALAN IS ONLY ELEVEN YEARS OLD, MEANING THAT IN **_**ALIEN FORCE**_**, HE WAS ONLY TEN. AND HE'S ALWAYS BEEN AS TALL AS BEN. ...I am going to pretend that this never happened, and Alan is still fourteen in this... *cough* ENJOY!**

"I'm bored," Ben announced, after trying and failing to whittle a simple square. He threw it randomly behind him, picking up another piece. Rook dodged the mutilated piece of wood. What was wrong with simply putting it down?

"You're always bored," Alan pointed out, after successfully whittling a dove. Pancake pecked at it, believing it to be real.

"Well," Kevin said, "We could-"

"NO," Ben, Alan, and Rook said. Even Rook had grown to realize that most of Kevin's ideas were idiotic.

Kevin stared at them. "You didn't even know what I was going to say!"

"It has something to do with drinking, skinny-dipping and stealing Rook's clothes, or eating Pancake," Ben answered. He noticed Alan frowning when he mentioned skinny-dipping.

Kevin smiled. "I was _not_ going to say anything about skinny-dipping or eating Pancake."

"No drinking," Alan ordered, "We're stupid enough without any alcohol."

"What's skinny-dipping?" Rook asked, though Kevin seemed to be the only one who heard him.

"See?" Kevin said, smiling. "This poor alien wants to know the wonders of-"

"NO."

"_FINE_."

_Silence._

_Silence._

_Silence._

"...But I bet Rook would love to see what a human does for fun by drinking a bit of vodka or so-"

"NO."

"Fine!" Kevin said, throwing his hands up. "What do _you_ guys suggest doing, then?"

Alan thought about it. "I think I have my Nintendo DS in the car."

"Oh, yeah," Ben said, "I still have my White2 Version in mine. Wanna battle?"

"Beats doing nothing," Alan shrugged, grabbed Pancake, and went to grab his Nintendo DS.

Kevin glared at Alan. "See? _That _is why you don't have a girlfriend! Besides, I thought you were _against_ animal cruelty!"

"This is different, Mr. PETA!" Alan said.

Kevin rolled his eyes. First Sumo Slammers, now Pokémon. He didn't know how he was going to put up with these nerds for much longer when catching a "Shiny" was so exciting.

When he saw that Ben and Alan were out of earshot, Rook asked, "What's vodka?"

Kevin smiled in a way that could _only_ be described as "evil."

~Lalalala~

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY PARTNER?!"

Several birds in nearby trees flew off into the sky, but Pancake simply flapped her wings in annoyance. Kevin couldn't stop laughing, Rook couldn't stop giggling, Ben couldn't stop screaming, and Alan and Pancake were just watching the stupidity unfold in front of them.

Kevin pretended to act innocent. "Me? What did _I_ do wrong? I was just showing Rook the joys of Earth, and what humans did for fun on this planet!" Too bad he was a bad actor.

"IS THAT SERIOUSLY THE BEST REASON YOU COULD COME UP WITH?" Clearly, Ben was _really_ mad.

"Ben," Alan said, coming between them, "It could be worse."

"He's singing Disney songs," Ben said, "It _can't_ get worse than this."

"It can if he thinks he's Ariel," Kevin said, running to the lake.

Sure enough, Rook was splashing in the water, singing parts of "Kiss the Girl" very horribly and off-key. Alan couldn't help but double over laughing.

"Help me pull him out of the water!" Ben yelled. After dragging him out of the water with great difficulty ("But I have to meet the witch so I can get legs!"), they tried to find out how they were going to get him sober before he could get himself killed.

"Well, I guess we can't just make coffee," Alan said, Pancake sleeping on his shoulder.

"Now what?" Kevin asked, as Rook continued to sing "Kiss the Girl" softly to himself.

"I could go to bed and pretend this never happened," Alan said, but Kevin grabbed onto him to prevent him from escaping.

"Hahaha, _no_," Kevin said. Pancake tweeted in anger. "Either you help us, or I'm spiking your food tomorrow."

Alan scowled, and started to get worried when Rook stumbled towards him, arms out wide, yelling, "MY PRINCE!" Fortunately, Ben stuck his foot out, and Rook tripped and fell before he could hug him.

"The poor guy brings a fishing pole so we don't starve, and you get him drunk," Alan mumbled. "And worse, he thinks I'm his prince."

"Hey," Ben said with fake curiosity, "Maybe it's backwards with him: If you kiss him, maybe he'll shut up." Throughout the conversation, Rook was still lying face-down, but he was very clearly singing "Under the Sea."

"Can we _please_ get him sober before he gets _too_ attached to me?" Alan asked. Then, more jokingly, "Because we know I'm just too hot to handle."

"Oh, yeah," Kevin said, "If you're so _hot_, then why don't you have a girlfriend yet, and _we_ do?"

Alan turned red. "Shut up." He jumped a bit when Rook, still face-down in the soft grass, sung "Poor Unfortunate Souls" very off-key.

"So we just leave him here?" Kevin suggested.

Ben snorted. "I wish. Or maybe we should just leave him with his prince?"

"Please stop calling me that," Alan mumbled, hiding his face in his hands when Ben and Kevin laughed.

"Maybe we should lock him up in your tent," Ben suggested.

"No," Kevin said, "I think he might eat or pee on something."

"So what are we supposed to do with a drunken alien?" Ben asked.

"Take away his Proto-Tool," Alan said, swiping the dangerous weapon from Rook as if he was taking something dangerous from a toddler.

"Maybe we can convince him he's Sleeping Beauty so he can just fall asleep," Kevin suggested, but his words went unheard when Rook lunged at Ben with a battle cry, tackling him to the ground.

"Guys, guys!" Alan said, chuckling. "There's plenty of me to go around!"

With ease, Kevin pulled Rook off of Ben, who, unsurprisingly, had not put up much of a good fight with Rook, even if he was drunk.

"Can't we just lock him up in his own car?" Ben asked, feeling a bruise starting to form on his cheek.

"Can't _you_ think of a better idea?" Kevin retorted. Reluctantly, he turned to Rook and said, "Go into my tent and keep quiet so... Uh... Ursula won't take away your legs again."

Rook nodded, then went into the tent with surprising obedience, softly singing the rest of "Poor Unfortunate Souls."

"So, who was the idiot who decided to show him Disney movies in the first place?" Kevin asked. Ben shifted his feet uncomfortably, a guilty look on his face, but only Pancake noticed it. She tweeted in annoyance.

Alan smiled, and, trying to sound motherly, he said, "Aw, he's gonna have his first hangover. They grow up so fast!" This earned him a punch to the arm from Kevin, a laughing fit from Ben, and his cheek being pecked by the most adorably annoying mourning dove in the continent.

_**DID YOU KNOW THAT...?**_

**...Although Beedrill in the anime cannot be affected by Jigglypuff's Sing, it does not have the ability Soundproof...**

**...Most of Dawn's Pokémon like Sweet Poffins, possibly showing their Natures if the anime goes with the game mechanics...**

**...If you run up to the female Frillish faceboard in Humilau City, Marlon will put his face up against the male Frillish's face and a male Veteran will take a picture of you two. You receive a Medal for this...**

**Author's Note: Rook is **_**so**_** having a hangover in the next chapter. YES, THE **_**NEXT CHAPTER.**_** I'm making this nine chapters long. Why? Because my bird has pecked at my finger for a whole nine minutes while I was typing the last few paragraphs. Let us thank the adorably annoying mourning dove, Pancake!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own Ben 10. If I had, Rook would've actually taught the Kraho (how do you even spell that?) to do the electric slide.**

**Author's Note: I AM SOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYY ! DON'T KILL ME! **

**Unfortunately, I don't feel very "holiday spirit"-y, so this is my lame attempt at getting my holiday cheeriness back. It doesn't even feel like Christmas. I swear, I've watched the Mr. Bean Christmas special on YouTube for half an hour …Enjoy?**

When Ben still had time to read, he used to read a lot, even though it definitely didn't seem like it. The books that were set in southern California always had snow in the winter, no matter what. Ben has lived his whole life in southern California, and it _never_ snowed. Not once. He felt jealous, because every other kid in the United States has seen snow _except for people in southern California._ Ironic, right? During the winter, he always hoped to see a snowy day, but the closest he had ever come to seeing snow is when he turned into Big Chill, and even then, it was just ice.

Today, his wish came true.

This morning, he woke up because he felt something cold and wet hit his forehead, and suspected that Pancake had crapped on him again. But no. It was just rain, or so he thought, until he looked around.

The lake was frozen, the only bird around was Pancake, and it was colder than it was last night. (It was raining at night, about an hour after they had to deal with drunken Rook.)

After Ben swaddled his whole body in his thickest, warmest blanket (which he stole from Kevin's car), he noticed Kevin waking up, too, crawling out of his tent. He yawned, rubbed his eyes, and looked around. Immediately, he turned to Ben. "What did you do this time?"

Ben raised his eyebrows in shock. "It wasn't even me!"

At that moment, Alan and Pancake woke up, too. Both of them looked around for a while, probably wondering what just happened. Alan glared at Ben, as Pancake puffed out her feathers for warmth. Or anger. "What did you _do_?"

Ben threw his hands up in frustration, and regretted it then wrapped his blanket around him again. "Why do you people automatically assume everything is _my_ fault? It could have been Rook, you know!"

"Hey, where is he, anyway?" Alan asked. Wasn't he in Kevin's tent?

"I kicked him out of my tent," Kevin answered, "And he mumbled something about his head feeling like it was hit by a hammer, and then fell asleep in his car."

"That's so nice of you, Kevin," Alan said, his voice heavy with sarcasm. He pulled on a scarf around his neck and Pancake, who rested on his shoulder.

Kevin cocooned himself in a blanket. "Just a small question: Why is it snowing _in the middle of August?_"

"Well, for starters, we're camping _near the mountains,_" Ben stated, "And summer's almost over. You know how quickly the weather changes around these areas."

Kevin sighed. "So now what?"

Ben and Kevin just sort of stared at each other, before both yelled, "SNOWBALL FIGHT!"

Alan smiled and shook his head in disappointment. Couldn't they see that they were wasting snow?

Remembering Rook, he went over to the old, somewhat beat-up vehicle, seeing that Rook was still asleep, a blanket wrapped around him like a burrito.

He climbed into the car and shook Rook's shoulders to get him to wake up. "Come on, Rook. Wakey, wakey, eggs and bacey."

"No," Rook said, "I… Don't feel good." He pulled the blanket over his head. "I don't think I like vodka very much."

Alan smiled weakly. "Yeah, well, I guess we should have warned you that drinking is only fun when someone else is being stupid."

Rook's brown eyes barely peeked out from the blankets. "Is it just me, or is very cold?"

"It's snowing," Alan explained, jerking a thumb over his shoulder at the two teenagers throwing snowballs at each other. "Wanna join us in freezing our butts off?"

"I've never seen snow before, Rook admitted.

"Great," Alan said, "Neither have I. Now let's go freeze our asses off while there's still some snow left."

Pancake hopped onto her second favorite human and pecked at his nose.

_Lalalala_

"Damn, it's cold!" Ben shrieked as he was, again, hit by one of Kevin's snowballs.

"It's made of snow, idiot," Kevin laughed, "It's supposed to be cold! Did you think it was going to be warm?"

Ben was going to throw another snowball at Kevin, but he spotted Alan and, to his surprise, Rook, who didn't seem to be very cold, seeing that he only wore his armor. Not even a scarf or jacket or anything. Maybe his armor changed with the weather so that Rook could stay warm or cooled? Pancake seemed to think Rook was warm, the way she rested herself on his shoulder.

"Snow," Alan said, letting Rook look around at the snow-covered ground. "Go ahead, knock yourself out."

"Won't that hurt?" Rook asked.

Alan frowned. How long has he been on Earth, again? "What I meant was-"

"Have fun," Ben answered for him.

For a few seconds, Rook just stared at the snow-littered grass, looking at it like it was a somewhat interesting cartoon. Then, with no warning, he dropped to the ground and waved his arms around.

Ben, Kevin, nor Alan knew what he was trying to do until Rook got back up: He made a snow angel.

Seeing their confused faces, he said, "I once saw that on a show Ben introduced me to, and I've always wanted to try it."

Without any warning, Ben threw a snowball at Rook's shoulder. It didn't seem to hurt him, but he did give Ben a confused look.

"It's a snowball fight," Ben explained. "You make a ball with the snow in your hands, like this-" he grabbed some snow off of the ground and formed a small sphere with it, "-and-"

_FWOOP._

A ball of snow hit Ben square in the face, causing him to yelp and spit some snow out. Kevin held another snowball in his hand.

"And then you throw it at anyone dumb enough to think that I don't come prepared," Kevin said, smirking.

Ben threw his only snowball at Kevin, who ducked just in time. This got their mini-war started back up again.

Rook and Alan stood awkwardly in the middle of the fight, somehow not being hit the entire time.

"So what's a snowman?" Rook asked. The snow was falling very gently right now. It probably wouldn't be snowing tomorrow.

Alan and Ben smiled at each other knowingly. Fine, so either of them would give anything for an actual white Christmas, but one day in the snow with the friends who drove you crazy on a regular basis was close enough.

**Author's Note: Ironic, since it's going to be sunny in California on Christmas… Ah, oh well, I don't have anything that could protect me from the snow, anyway. Review, and you get cake! (That's a lie; there is no cake…)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I get tired of typing this…**

**Author's Note: Blaah, once again, this computer-that's-secretly-a-dinosaur-from-the-Triassic-period crashed on me. And EVERY SINGLE THING I HAD ON THIS DAMN THING WAS ERASED, INCLUDING MY ENGLISH ESSAY. **_**THAT WAS FIVE TO SIX PAGES OF MY LIFE, RAMBLING ON THE RIGHTS OF GAY MARRIAGE, GONE FOREVER. DO YOU GUYS KNOW HOW MANY HOURS OF MY LIFE I WILL NEVER GET BACK FROM THAT?!**_

…**Ahem… In other news, I have finals. So I've been staying up until midnight (or later) studying for my AP Euro final, 'cuz it's the only subject I really suck at, so forgive me if I act cranky in any of my PMs. So… ENJOY!**

When Rook was on his home planet, there was always something to do. But, when camping on Earth, _it was so boring_.

Currently, the most exciting thing to happen here was the temporary snow day. But it had stopped snowing a couple of hours after he woke up from his hangover, and the snow melted soon after.

The weather wasn't very severe, except for a bit of wind. But, as the wind blew at his face, Rook got a really great –or a really dumb- idea in his head. Of course! He remembered learning about it from Ben when they were fishing once. And, back then, it did sound a bit like fun.

Grabbing the keys to his car, Rook ran to his beat-up van. "I will be back in an hour!"

Alan and Kevin stared at the van that slowly transformed into a mini-jet. "Think he's ditching us?"

Kevin shook his head. "Nah. But I have the weirdest feeling that he's gonna pull us into doing something stupid."

"In other words, today's gonna be pretty ordinary for us, right?" Alan said.

"Unfortunately, yes," Kevin responded, letting Pancake nibble at his fingertips.

-line-

Exactly fifty-nine minutes and twenty-three seconds later, Rook kept his promise and returned, his car carrying a bit more weight than it had before.

Ben yawned and looked up. He tried noodling to attract fish, but not even that was working, but it was working great for Kevin. Why did fish hate him so much? Did every fish on planet Earth decide that they did not want to be eaten by a certain Benjamin Kirby Tennyson, and decided not to even go near him? Or did he just radiate so much awesomeness that the fish were scared of going blind from that much awesome? He'd like to think so, anyway.

As Rook got out of the van, Ben's stomach lurched a bit. He had his mischievous grin on his face, the same one he wore when he dunked Ben at the fair in Bellwood. It worried him.

"I brought us a surprise!" Rook said, pulling out two banana-colored kayaks from the trunk. They looked older than Ben, and looked like they had been washed a lot less than him.

"Oh, crap," Ben said. What was it with Rook and having Ben getting completely soaked?

"Ta-daa!" Rook sang. Clearly, he had thought that his friends would've been enthusiastic. "We are going kayaking!"

"In the lake? Right now?" was all that could exit from Ben's mouth.

"Yes," Rook said, pushing the kayaks into the water, but not enough so that they would drift off by themselves.

Kevin and Alan groaned. Rook pretended he hadn't heard them.

"There are only two of them," Rook explained, getting into one, "but they each hold two people, so-"

"I'm going with Rook," Alan said, hopping into the same kayak with Rook. He knew better than to have to get into a kayak with Ben or Kevin.

Which, unfortunately, meant that Ben and Kevin would have to share a kayak together. Pancake, instead of joining them, went back to looking for seeds on the ground. Even she knew that Ben and Kevin sharing a kayak would end up in complete disaster.

Things started to go downhill once they got into the water.

Alan stared at them. "Don't you think you're forgetting something?"

"Like what?" Ben said, stretching his arms.

"Are you two just going to float there?" Rook asked, smiling.

It hit Ben like a snowball to the face, which he unfortunately had to experience a lot when it was still snowing. Where were the paddles?

Kevin glared at Ben. "I told you to grab the paddles."

Ben glared back. "You never said _anything_ about the paddles!"

"There they go," Alan mumbled. "I swear, they're like an old married couple."

"So, we're just stranded here?" Kevin asked.

Ben shrugged. "You know, it's not that bad." He stretched his stiff arms again. He stood up.

"You're going to tip it over," Kevin warned.

Rook looked up. "Ben, I know that you do not know much about camping, but I do know that you are not supposed to stand on a kayak. You are going to tip it over."

"AM NO-" Ben said before he fell into the water. At least he hadn't tipped the whole kayak over.

Alan laughed. "Well, he didn't tip it over." Rook smiled.

"I hate all of you," Ben mumbled. He climbed back onto his kayak, shivering.

"Love you, too," Kevin and Alan chorused.

As the kayak began to head in another direction from the wind, Alan asked, "These things won't sink or anything, right?"

"It's a kayak, not the _Titanic_," Alan heard Kevin say.

Alan looked at his friends. "Exactly."

"We're not idiots, Alan," Ben said, "If we see an ice burg out in the lake, we're smart enough to get out of the way!"

Alan stared at him, then turned to Rook. "You have to work with him every day? I feel so sad for you."

Rook gave him a weak smile, and then went back to trying to get them back to the middle of the lake. The wind wanted to carry them somewhere else, and it was getting hard to move around.

"This isn't that bad," Ben repeated. Their kayak started to spin a bit from the wind. The spinning and Ben being Ben were beginning to get on Kevin's nerves.

"I swear, Tennyson," Kevin growled, "If it was worth having to fall into th-"

Suddenly, the whole kayak tipped over. Ben and Kevin swam back up, gasping for air.

"Tennyson!" Kevin growled, pulling Ben into a headlock as Ben spazzed and splashed in the water. "I'm going to kill you!"

"And that," Alan was saying, "Is how you flip over another kayak to get two people to shut up."

As Ben and Kevin popped out of the water, still fighting, Rook smiled.

"It does not seem highly effective."

**Author's Note: Maybe next time, I'll post something worth reading?**


End file.
